I cannot believe it’s been a whole year since we launched our business!
This time last year I was in floods of tears because there had been a powercut throughout our whole neighbourhood and we had zero access to the internet!
It sounds dramatic I know but we’d promised everyone we would be launching our website (which still wasn’t quite ready) and it felt like everything was going wrong before we’d even launched.
Luckily, after a few hours of panicking the power came back on and we launched our website as promised on 17th August 2018 😊.
Then came the waiting game - we didn’t know if we would sell anything and we all sat around wondering what to do with ourselves next. We were absolutely over the moon when an order (from the fabulous @toria_talks_beauty) came through just 10 minutes after the website went live!
We danced around the living room excitedly and immediately rushed to our newly established packing station to get our first ever order parcelled up.
Leo and me looking pleased as punch with our first batch of parcels to send out!
Since then, we have been absolutely overwhelmed with the amazing positive response from everybody in the skincare community on Instagram and beyond. We set up our business not knowing if anything would come of it and the events that have happened since were beyond our imagination!
Thank you to everyone who has supported, commented, liked, ordered and given feedback to us over the past year. We literally couldn’t have done it without you and we’re incredibly grateful for your support! 🙏
Our lovely yurt, Badger at Blackdown Yurts!
Last year, we spent two nights in a yurt when we attended the Creative Business Network's amazing Creatival – a fantastic festival in Exeter for creative business ventures. Tickets are still available for this year’s Creatival, we’d highly recommend it if you’re thinking of or have already started your own creative business.
Even though Leo (who had never been camping before) took some convincing to try the yurt out, by the end of our stay he had come full circle and absolutely loved it!
It was here that we met loads of inspiring business owners such as the fabulous Lauren Aston of Lauren Aston Designs and we made friends for life with the wonderful Lucy and Chris of Lucy and Yak. They've been such a rock for us over the past year and they inspire us every day to keep pushing the boundaries and build an ethical business to be proud of.
It was actually while we were in the yurt one evening that Urban Outfitters US contacted us and asked to stock our products on their website! We couldn’t believe our eyes and had to keep checking the email to see if it was real.
Us on the shelves at Riley Rose!
Not long afterwards, Riley Rose contacted us too and we couldn’t believe it when they said they wanted to stock us in all of their US stores!
We haven’t been able to get over to the US to see it for ourselves, but we get super excited every time we get tagged in a picture of us on the shelves! If you’re US based you can go and check us out in-store and try out our testers to see what you think! Here’s a link to the list of Riley Rose stores 😉
Our L.E.V8 Cohort!
In October 2018 we managed to get a place on the OXFO L.E.V8 accelerator programme at the Oxford Foundry, University of Oxford. Our business was one of 10 selected annually for the University’s accelerator programme.
We spent an incredible 6 months working alongside a group of amazing entrepreneurs from the other businesses. We met some incredible people and gained valuable advice for our business from a stellar team of advisors and mentors!
Thank you so much to the Oxford Foundry team for supporting us and encouraging us to take our business to the next level.
The ill-fated pallet getting loaded up for its 2 week holiday in Los Angeles!
I’m not going to lie and pretend it’s all been amazing – there have been some really tough times and lots of challenges to overcome. Running a business definitely has a big impact on your mental health and there have been times when I’ve been too depressed to get up, let alone deal with the big problems!
We’ve had trouble with suppliers being really slow, having a massive knock on effect on us having enough stock. Then there was a breakdown in communication and a whole pallet of stock got stuck at LAX for 2 weeks without us realising! Oh and while the Royal Mail have been awesome at getting the parcels out to everyone on time, there have been a couple of hiccups and it’s very difficult not to get upset on behalf of your customers when things go wrong.
Thankfully, we can reflect on everything that’s happened and realise that while it was tough, each and every problem has taught us how to be more resilient and how to solve it next time! We’ve learnt that we need to chase suppliers regularly, how to send a pallet to the US properly and that Italy’s postal service can only deliver a parcel if you send it via tracked shipping!!
The final design versions of Stay Lit!
So much has happened for WOW YOU in such a short space of time but we’re not stopping yet! Here are a few of our plans for the next few months and beyond:
We’re launching a celebratory birthday candle called Stay Lit with our signature best loved scent from Super Serum! I chose the name to represent that feeling of taking time for yourself when you’ve had a stressful period and it’s been difficult to take a break. We often carry on despite really needing to rest and recuperate and I wanted it to be a little reminder to take care of yourself so you can stay lit and ready for anything!
I wanted to launch them today to mark our anniversary, but it turns out that candles need to cure for a few weeks to develop a stronger scent 🙈 so instead we’ll launch them in the next couple of weeks 😊.
Ever wondered the reason behind our name and logo?
We want to use our platform for good and we’d like to put more emphasis on our skin positivity mission going forward. We chose our name and logo to represent that feeling of being able to say to yourself in the mirror “Wow, you look amazing!”. We want to help everyone feel good in their skin no matter what by championing skin positivity & self compassion and by featuring real skin on our website and feed.
We’re in the process of setting up an ambassador program, so if you’d like to get involved in spreading the skin positivity message, please keep a look out for updates on this in the coming months! 😉
Some of our upcoming mini versions!
We’ve been meaning to release mini versions of our products for ages and it’s just been one of those things that keeps getting delayed! We’re currently making the finishing touches to our mini sets which should be released in the next few weeks. Keep an eye out for the release email as we only have a small number of units in this first batch!
If you’ve read my ramblings this far, thank you! We can’t thank you all enough for all of the kindness you’ve all showed us over the past year, here’s to many more years to come! 🥂
Best wishes,
Ella 💕
August 18, 2019
I started using Wow You! A year ago ( so probably when you first came to instagram) and I was completely blown away from the first use!! I am a loyal customer forever!!!
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Amazing product, best feeling ever, and best skin ever! The quality and the price of this product are insanely surprising and amazing
Absolutely amazing! first of all the smell, it's amazing! I've been looking for a natural and 'clean' skincare brand for ages, and finally, I've found it! this is the third bottle I'm purchasing
Purchased this range for my teenage daughter as other skincare products were too harsh for her skin and she had even more breakouts using them. Now she will not use anything else. The products are Amazing and her skin is in the best condition ever. They smell amazing and so natural. So glad we found this company. The best range for young skin.
Do not buy any expensive creams! This is the best!
This is the best cream for oily and combination skin.
My teen daughter has sensitive skin and WOW You products are all amazing. She uses all the products and has got herself into a routine which is great because it’s encouraging her to look after her skin. Highly recommend!
As the Sea Hydrate was out of stock as a solo product I bought this set, I've been a fellow customer to Wow You for a couple years now, and I loved every single products I've tried. This set is actually made of my personal faves :
- the serum that contains retinol is perfect for my acne sensitive skin that is not irritating when used adequately
- the moisturizer is perfect for daytime and not oily and does a great job at keeping the irritations from winter away
- the cleanser is very soothing and skin calming so it's perfect when you need that extra touch of non agressive skincare,
- the sea hydrate... well it's my holly Grail! It's the perfect non sticky, hydrating, non pore clogging moisturizer, especially in hot temperatures when you don't want to put anything too heavy on your skin (especially for those like me with acne combination skin), it also gives a healthy glow to your face! I use it both for my morning skincare and my evening skincare, and as all the Wow You products, a little goes a VERY long way, so this gel moisturizer lasts for months even when using it twice daily.
This brand is the best random discovery I ever made, and definitely my best skincare purchases ever : the quality-quantity-price ratio is astonishing, like I said above, you don't need to use too much products and you can keep using them for months, the ingredients list is small and simple, that means you get good quality ingredients which actually target and treat your skin concerns, and you need nothing else but that, so very good for those who want effects without buying a ton of products and go for minimal skincare. Also the packaging is cute and 100% recyclable.
To be honest I think I'm addicted to this brand, every time I finish a product I need to order it again, because they're so good I feel like I couldn't leave without them. Anyways, I will keep ordering from you in the future, you got yourself a huge fan and fellow customer from France! I'm very looking forward to see more new skincare products from you in the future, if it's in your plans 💜
This serum is so lovely. My skin feels and looks so much better when I’m using it. It works brilliantly in conjunction with my moisturiser. Would definitely recommend.
This product has brightened and cleared my skin up so much.
Bought this set for my 13 year old daughter who struggles to manage her skin. She was so pleased when this arrived. After reading all the good reviews and it didn't disappoint. She has been using regularly for about three weeks and can we've really seen the difference, her skin is so much calmer and a lot less spots. Just order ed the full size products as she's running low. Definitely recommend 5/5!!
Absolutely amazing, my Skin feels soft and nourished and no irritation at all. And love the smell too !!
My 14-year-old was suffering with acne that was quite red and sore. I bought her the glow up mini bundle to try, and within a week, the redness had significantly reduced, and after two weeks - all the spots were gone, and her face was clear! We just bought the full sized bottles - she loves the products! I love that they are reasonably priced, and gentle for teenage skin. I'm thinking of getting a bundle for myself!
I buy this for myself and my 11 year old daughter. We both love it.
I bought this as a gift for my 13yr old daughter after she asked for some nice skin care for her birthday. The mini kit made a great trial and has really helped calm her combination skin which goes haywire pmt week. I’m now going to order full size as she is very happy with it. Thank you
I bought the mini bungle for my 12 yo to see if it agrees with her, after her skin had reacted to some other products. Not only is she breaking out less but her skin is radiant and glowing. At first these products might appear more pricey than off-the-shelf ones, but a little goes a long way so they are cost effective too.
Ella
August 18, 2019
Hi Mérida, thank you so much for your kind words and for all of your support so far! I’m really pleased to hear you’re enjoying our products lovely! Best wishes, Ella 💕